New Delhi, August 18 (India Science Wire): For the first time, the age of the artefacts of Neolithic era recovered from two important sites in northeast India has been unraveled. Indian scientists have found the age using the latest technique of optically stimulated luminescence dating. 
‘It is now confirmed that the corded pottery and polished stone tools that were recovered during excavations in Daojali Hading in Dima Haso district of Assam in 1961 are 2, 700 years old and those recovered from Gawak Abri in Garo Hills of Meghalaya in 1999 are 2,300 years old”, says Dr. Sukanya Sharma of Indian Institute Of Technology (IIT), Guwahati. She and her colleague, Pankaj Singh had conducted the study. 
The study was conducted on an experimental basis with the new technique of optically simulated luminescence dating. The age of the sites were found to be well matched with the radio-carbon dates from other Neolithic sites of the region. 
The excavation site at Daojali Hading occupies an important place in the archaeological history of India as the first evidence of an Eastern Asiatic Neolithic complex of double-shouldered Celts and cord-marked pottery in India was reported from there.The discovery had put Northeast India on the Neolithic map of the world for the first time. However precise age of the artefacts were not known.
Antiquity of the site was hypothetically stated to be of the`late Neolithic phase’. Now, with the dating of the artefacts, this hypothesis has been proved and its antiquity has been established.
The dating of the Gawak Abri site in Garo Hills is also significant as Garo Hills has the highest density of prehistoric sites in North East India. 
With the new finding of the age of the two sites, it is confirmed that human beings, with the capacity to make pottery and polished stone tools were present in the north east India over two thousand years ago.
The researchers have published their study in the latest issue of science journal, Current Science. (India Science Wire)

NEW DELHI: On 15th August when the citizens were celebrating 71st Independence Day, more than 500 birds lost their wings and close to 100 died due to injuries sustained by the metal and glass coated thread used in kite-flying. 

The winged creatures suffered due to the dangerous Chinese strings cutting through the wings, bones and ribs of half a thousand birds in the skies. Injured birds are being treated in the Charity Birds Hospital situated in the premises of the Digambar Jain Temple at Chandni Chowk, opposite the historic Red Fort in the Walled City of Delhi.

Despite ban on the ‘maanjha’ strings by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the enthusiasts keep repeating its use, leaving the flying creatures dead and injured. Although Chinese threads are not allowed to be sold in the market, shopkeepers are still selling it to make profit at the cost of killing birds. 

The Charitable hospital at Chandni Chowk was filled with the birds struggling to fly due to their wings’ cut. Pigeons, crows, eagles and parrots were most in numbers. Embedded with stains of blood, the wounded birds were being treated by the veterinarian doctors in the emergency ward.

Alternate Maanjha

If the kite enthusiasts don’t manage to buy the maanjha from the market then they use home-made maanjha. Broken tubelight glasses, CFL bulb shards, mixture of wheat flour and some other metals are the key ingredients to make maanjha at home. The mixture of these items is used to polish and coat the soft thread with great maneuver. Within 24 hours, the cotton threads are turned into razor-sharp ‘maanjha’.

A Delhi Police constable Also Injured 

One Delhi Police constable, Manoj Kumar, was also injured due to Chinese maanjha in the Kashmere Gate vicinity. He suffered injuries on his nose and upper eyes. He was admitted to the nearest primary hospital and later released.

The annual tradition of kite-flying causes a heavy toll in birds and people. Last year, three people died when the strings cut their throat. With immediate effect, coating of strings with glass was banned in the Capital. But it seems that the tradition has taken a huge toll of winged creatures who remain mute victims.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprung a welcome surprise on Independence Day last Tuesday exhorting Kashmiris to adopt the path of conciliation.  

The question is why did it take the Head of Government so long to make efforts in ending the drift when he held forth from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort that “na goli se, na galli se, Kashmir ki Samasya suljhegi gala milne se (neither bullet, nor abuse but conciliation will solve the Kashmir tangle.)

It is becoming apparent that Modi is trying to invoke former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s policy on Kashmir. The endeavour is to create an atmosphere conducive for talks. 

Discriminating J&K watchers and others have repeatedly impressed upon the Modi government that the only way forward in Kashmir is to sit across the table in hammering out a solution. 

The hardline approach was fine in fighting the terrorists aided and abetted by their masters across the border in Pakistan. However, such an approach alone was not the panacea to the long pending problem.  

The late Mufti Sayeed who made it possible for the unthinkable PDP (North Pole) and BJP (South Pole) to form a coalition government in J&K had emphasised that dialogue was the only way out. 

It is not surprising that the Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has backed the Prime Minister’s move. Does this mean that Modi wants the talks to begin afresh even as efforts are under way to reopen the constitutional status of the only Muslim majority state in the country. 

Since May 26, 2014 when Modi came to power the situation has deteriorated steadily in the Valley. Hardly any efforts were made to return to the negotiating table even as the policy towards the separatists and the militants hardened. The Prime Minister’s suggestion for conciliation has taken Kashmiris by surprise even as independent attempts from various quarters including certain senior leaders of the Lotus party trying to get the dialogue process back on the rails. The Centre was not enthused by these efforts.  

Even as security forces were making gains in Kashmir in the war against terror aided and abetted by their masters across the border, there has been some relief with Modi ruling out any hasty action to abrogate Article 35A providing for special status to J&K. 

It may be recalled that Article 35A was added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954 according special rights and privileges to the citizens of J&K. It also empowers the state’s legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating the Right to Equality of people from other states or any other right under the Constitution. 

When J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti met Union Home minister Rajnath Singh and the Prime Minister recently, she feared the worst in the wake of suggestions that Article 35A might be scrapped. 

Her assertion in the wake of all this that there will be no one to hold the Indian Tricolour aloft if Kashmir’s special status is nullified was uncalled for though it alerted the Centre for maintaining restraint on scarpping Article 35A. 

All the political parties in the Valley had come together on this issue. NC’s former chief minister Omar Abdullah stressed it was an “important message from the Prime Minister and should be viewed as a beginning and not an end in itself. Let us wait and see what action follows.” 

At the same time it is widely believed in the Valley that the first thing that the Prime Minister can do is “embrace the pro-India parties by ensuring that Kashmir’s special status is protected.”

NEW DELHI : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has written to State Chief Ministers urging the States to reduce burden of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Petroleum Products used as inputs in making of goods after the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The letter by Finance Minister highlights a concern being raised by the manufacturing sector in the country regarding the rise in input costs of petroleum products happening on account of transition to Goods and Services Tax regime. In the pre-GST regime, because the petroleum products as well as the final goods produced both attracted VAT, input tax credit of petroleum products being used as inputs by manufacturers was allowed to varying extent by different States. However, in the post-GST scenario, the manufactured goods attract GST while the inputs of petroleum products used in the manufacturing attract VAT and, therefore, it would lead to cascading of taxes. In view of this, in the pre GST regime certain States had lower rate of 5% VAT on Compressed Natural Gas used for manufacturing of goods. Some States also had lower rate of VAT on diesel being used for manufacturing sector.

Thus Arun Jaitley has requested other States also to explore the possibility of having a lower rate of VAT on petroleum products used for manufacturing of those items on which there is GST, so that there is minimum disruption in the costing of goods.

Excessive blood loss due to injury may result in serious medical complications and, in extreme situations, even death. The problem could be severe in case of patients with impaired blood clotting capacity such as in hemophilia. To address this challenge, Indian scientists have developed a nature-inspired biomaterial with enhanced blood clotting efficiency to treat injuries.

The new material has been developed by scientists at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (IISERK) and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata. Researchers have modified natural biomaterials, peptides, to develop sealants with improved strength, stability and clotting properties. 

“We have engineered fibrin-inspired peptide-based sealants which have demonstrated superior blood clotting ability than natural fibrin,” explained Dr Rituparna Sinha Roy, a member of the research team. The study been published in journal Scientific Reports.

Computer based analyses was employed ,using various approaches, to generate sealant structures with desired properties, explained Prof Dhananjay Bhattacharyya, a senior researcher of the study. These structures were then synthesized and evaluated under laboratory conditions. 

These tests revealed that the engineered sealant was able to self-assemble, much like human body’s natural clotting mechanism, to form an interwoven structure resembling a clot but in nearly half the time. This enhanced clotting rate can play an extremely crucial role in treating injuries sustained during accidents or military combat, researchers pointed out.  

The natural material of the engineered sealant will ensure that it is tolerated by the body with minimal inflammatory response. It is also bio-degradable, similar to the natural clotting factor. “Such sealants might be potentially translated into clinics for handling traumatic coagulopathy and for treating patients suffering from impaired blood clotting”, felt Sinha Roy. 

The researchers claim that the sealant may also find use in treating injuries where surrounding healthy skin tissue is absent and the body is incapable of closing its own wounds. The study also proposes the use of the engineered sealants in suture-free wound closing, such as in deep cuts or after surgical procedure. 

The research team included Snehasish Ghosh, Sanchita Mukherjee, Chiranjit Dutta, Kasturee Chakraborty, Paramita Gayen, Somnath Jan, Dhananjay Bhattacharyya and Rituparna Sinha Roy. (India Science Wire)

Shedding its hesitant and cautious approach of the past with regard to participating in global mega science projects, India has taken bold steps in recent years to join international scientific quests. 

The Science Technology and Innovation policy of 2013 envisages positioning India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020. In addition to home-grown science and engineering projects, the policy advocated participation in global science projects arguing that as a civilised country we must also participate in global mega science projects aiming to find out for example the ultimate structure of matter or the origin of the universe. 

Here are some of India’s Big Science initiatives:

Feeling the fabric of space-time: The detection of gravitational waves for the first time in February 2016 after a century of speculation and decades of tenacious attempts to improve sensitivity of instruments to detect these elusive waves, was hailed as the ‘discovery of the century’. Of over 1000 scientists from 15 countries who jointly made this discovery, 39 were from India. Indian scientists made direct contributions – ranging from designing algorithms used to analyse signals registered by detectors to ascertain those from a gravitational wave to working out parameters like estimating energy and power radiated during merger, orbital eccentricity and estimating the mass and spin of the final black hole and so on. Currently there are only two detectors in operation, both in America. Building on their strength, Indian astronomers are proposing to build the third detector somewhere in Maharashtra. Called Indian LIGO (IndiGO), the instrument matching the two LIGO observatories in the US would enable scientists to pinpoint the source of gravitational waves. 

Big Bang: India became a full Associate Member of “God particle” fame CERN on January 16, 2017, thereby getting full access to data generated at the world’s largest particle physics laboratory. Currently, CERN has 22 member states. Indian scientists have helped build the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle collider in the world as well as construction of two significant CERN experiments, CMS and ALICE. Incidentally CMS is one of the two experiments that discovered the Higgs Boson, popularly called as ‘God particle’ and ALICE creates conditions that existed at the time of big bang.

Digging deep: Shivajisagar lake was impounded in the Koyna region in Maharashtra to create an artificial reservoir in 1962. The massive earthquake of magnitude 6.3 that occurred in 1967 brought to light dangers of Reservoir Triggered Seismicity (RTS). Since its construction, the region has witnessed 22 earthquakes exceeding magnitude 5, 200 exceeding magnitude 4 and several thousand smaller earthquakes. Indian geophysicists have drilled a seven-km deep borehole in this earthquake zone and have established an on-the-spot observatory to study earthquakes. The observatory is studying physical and mechanical properties of rocks before, during and after a quake; physical and chemical changes in the earth’s crust that occur during an earthquake; and temperature change that impels melting of rocks. Geologists are hopeful that the knowledge garnered from the web of 15 earthquake sensors and the on-spot data collection, has potential for making earthquake forecasts possible in future.

Making of atoms: India is part of the international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) coming up at Darmstadt, Germany for studying the building blocks of matter and the evolution of the Universe. This sophisticated accelerator complex will use high-energy, precisely-tailored ion beams to mimic the conditions inside the core of stars and early phase of the universe.

The 1.2-billion euro facility will study the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe since the Big Bang. While the Helium and hydrogen was formed in the early universe, rest of the elements it is postulated were cooked inside the stars. The facility would also shed light on the creation of heavy elements in stars and also the interiors of planets. Indian institutions will be engaged in building NUSTAR (Nuclear Structure, Astrophysics and Reactions), CBM (Compressed Baryonic Matter) and PANDA (Antiproton Annihilation at Darmstadt) in addition to building equipment to be used at the heart of the FAIR accelerator. 

Looking back in time: India has joined nine other nations to build the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope – Square Kilometre Array (SKA). It will combine signals received from thousands of small parabolic and dipole antennas spread over a distance of several thousand kilometres across Africa and Australia. Karoo desert in South Africa will host the core of the 350 megahertz to 14 gigahertz mid-frequency dish array while the Australian telescope will observe lower-frequency scale, from 50 to 350 megahertz and the total detection area of the receiver dishes would exceed 1 square kilometre.  A large number of dipole antennas are capable of receiving very low frequencies while the 3000 odd parabolic antennas operate at higher frequencies. Combining signals from all these thousands of antennas would simulate a single giant radio telescope with extremely high sensitivity. The sensitivity of this radio telescope would be fifty times more than any other radio telescope and it will be able to survey the sky 10,000 times faster enabling astronomers to even capture faint radio signals emitted by cosmic sources billions of light years away from Earth. With such a powerful telescope, astronomers could peer deep into the universe, way back in time when the first stars were emerging. 

Shining like Sun: TheInternational-Thermonuclear-Experimental-Reactor (ITER) has embarked upon an ambitious project to build a little bit of Sun in laboratory conduction. While the conventional nuclear reactor breaks a heavy atom like plutonium to gather the binding energy, the fusion reactor will fuse two light elements like say hydrogen into helium to harness the energy. As fusion reactors will not use any radioactive materials, yet generate immense energy, it is considered as a clean-green source of energy. The high temperature in the core of the stars results in light elements becoming highly ionised and attain plasma state. It is in this plasma state that two or more light elements could fuse. If we have to re-create such a condition on Earth, then we need to make a small amount of hydrogen into plasma before we can achieve fusion. One of the challenges is to contain high temperature plasma in a confinement to achieve the fusion. The experimental nuclear fusion reactor being built at Cadarache in south of France hopes to harness fusion reaction to generate energy. European Union, United States, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and India are jointly building and operating this test facility. Institute for Plasma Research, Ahmedabad is contributing crucial parts of the tokamak reactor’s gigantic cryostat.

Predicting rain:  The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is developing a dynamic weather prediction model involving 3D mathematical simulation of the atmosphere on computer and to test variations of dynamic models to ferret out the best ones for operational forecast of rainfall. While the ultimate goal is to get operational weather forecasts at a horizontal resolution of 12 km, by 2019 National Monsoon Mission will provide block level weather forecast. With the improvements in forecast, 24-hour track and intensity forecast error of the tropical cyclones reduced from 141 km to 97 km and ‘landfall error’ from 99 km to 56 km during 2006 to 2015. The accurate forecast of the recent cyclones, Phailin, HudHud and Vardah saved thousands of human lives. 

Churning the sea:  Using research vessel, Gaveshani, Indian researchers had collected samples of poly metallic nodules from Arabian Sea in 1981 and India was given a pioneer area for exploration of deep sea minerals in the Central Indian Ocean Basin in 1987. Subsequently extensive surveys were carried out leading to allocation of an area of 150,000 sq km with exclusive rights under the UN Law of the sea. India has access to an area of 75,000 sq km with an estimated resource of about 100 million tons of strategic metals such copper, nickel, cobalt besides manganese and iron. As various national institutions have developed technologies for extraction of metals from the minerals, soon India would establish First Generation Mine-site (FGM) with an area of 18,000 sq km and harvest natural resources from the sea-bed. The multi-purpose deep ocean mission would also try to harness deep ocean energy, deep sea fishing along with deep sea mining. Further technologies for sea water desalination to obtain potable water would also be undertaken.

Looking deep:  The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), world’s advanced ground based telescope, is expected to outsmart all ground-based telescopes once it is operational. Made of 492 individual segments, the telescope mirror would have a reflective diameter of 30 meters and would be 81 times more powerful than any other telescope. It a partnership project involving CalTech, Universities of California, Canada, Japan, China and India. While initial location chosen was Hawaii, Hanle in Ladakh was also considered as an alternative. However, it may perhaps be finally located in Chile. Building of such a massive telescope is a technological challenge. The mirror segments have to be aligned precisely with each other and the adoptive optics proposed would eliminate the twinkling effect caused by atmospheric thermal disturbances. India will develop and manufacture 15% of the mirror segments and assembly.

Reaching for stars: India had dazzled the world by reaching Mars in very first attempt. Indian spacecraft reached the moon before that. Currently AstroSAT a multi wavelength space telescope is operational. ISRO in coming years would add many more deep space missions to its credit. Chandrayan 2- with a lander and rover is proposed to be launched some time inn 2018-19. A mission to study the Sun – Aditya, is in the offing. Building upon the success of the Mars Orbiter Mission, ISRO is planning to send yet another spacecraft to study Mars. Indian space programme in addition to providing telecom, weather, navigational services, would also take a pride of place among the spacefaring nations of the world. 

Technological spinoffs of mega projects such as LHC or FAIR are immense. Technology developed in CERN went into making mammograms used for breast cancer detection, while the positron used in particle physics experiments gave us PET (Positron Emission Tomography). The study of fundamental particles is sure to yield newer imaging technologies. That’s why it is important to invest in mega science projects. (India Science Wire) 

Amid simmering differences with the Board of Directors and co-founders of Infosys, Vishal Sikka resigns as the Chief Executive Officer of the second largest IT company in India. UB Pravin Rao has been appointed as the interim chief and managing director. The giant of Silicon Valley said it in a notice to the stock exchange.

Dr. Sikka wrote in his BlogSpot shortly after his resignation, “very public noise around us had created an untenable atmosphere that prevented the management from functioning effectively.”

Vishal Sikka was the first non-founder CEO of the company. Now the Silicon Valley import is appointed as the executive vice chairman. Infosys has accepted Sikka’s resignation during a board meeting on Friday.

“In his notice of resignation to the Board, Dr. Sikka reiterated his belief in the great potential of Infosys, but cited among his reasons for leaving a continuous stream of distractions and disruptions over the recent months and quarters, increasingly personal and negative as of late, as preventing management’s ability to accelerate the company’s transformation,” said Infosys.

In a report published in Mint, Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy tells advisers in an email that at least three independent directors have been complaining about CEO Vishal Sikka.

“All I hear from the at least three independent directors, including MR Ravi Venkatesan (co-chairman), are complaints about Dr. Sikka. They have told me umpteen times that Dr. Sikka is not a CEO material but CTO material. This is the view of at least three members of the board, and I have not seen him operate from the vantage point of an Infosys board member,” Murthy said in the mail.

This crisis marked the low in the stock exchange as the scrip was trading over 5 per cent down at Rs 965.80 around 9.30 am (IST), whereas BSE sensex was down 185 points, or 0.58 per cent, at 31, 611.

Concerned over several cases of self harm while play Blue Whale Game Challenge on internet, Union Women and Child Development Minister, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, has written to the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh and Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, asking them to take all measures to remove the self-destructive game from social media.

Several cases of students and youngsters have reportedly committing suicide playing this Game, according to media reports.

Raising concern over these shocking incidents, Ms Gandhi suggested that the Game Challenge be removed from social media by suitable intervention.

The Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology has issued a circular to Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo to report anyone who’s advocating or promoting the game.

Earlier in May, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had also written to the IT Ministry to take immediate action to ban the Game.

Ms Gandhi has also appealed to the parents to monitor the activities of children and dissuade them from falling prey to such dangerous games.

Aimed to prevent unethical profiteering and ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the people, the government has fixed ceiling prices on knee implants. The move comes within months of fixing of prices for stents.

The new prices, reduced by at least 60%, came into force immediately. Overcharging of knee implants would be strictly monitored and penalised, Union Chemical and Fertlisers Minister Ananth Kumar said while announcing the new prices.

The most commonly used Cobalt Chromium implant which used to cost Rs 1.58 lakh will now cost Rs 54.720; implants made of special metals like titanium and oxidized zirconium priced at Rs 2.49 lakh will now be available for Rs 76,600; high flexibility implants has now been priced at Rs 56,490 instead of Rs 1.81 lakh; prices of revision implants has come down from Rs 2.76 lakh to Rs 1.13 lakh and the prices of specialised implants for cancer and tumor will be fixed at rs 1.13 lakh.

Based on the numbers of about 1 to 1.5 lakh orthopaedic knee procedures done in India every year, there will be a saving of about Rs.1500 crore for the people annually. It is a step to prevent unethical profiteering and ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the last man, the Minister added.

According to the data analysis of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), under Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, there was huge margin in trade which was found to be unreasonable and in a way unethical ‘profiteering’. The NPPA, while fixing the ceiling prices, has kept all the new technology implants in mind and prices have been fixed accordingly.

Mr Ananth Kumar said the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that by 2020, osteoarthritis is going to be the fourth largest cause of immobility in the world. India has about 1.2 to 1.5 crore orthopaedic patients who require orthopaedic implant surgery. Most of the diagnosed people requiring knee surgery are not able to afford because of very high cost. the government is reforming this state of affairs putting a ceiling on knee implants from today, the Minister added.

The Minister said that the Government expects full cooperation from all the stakeholders including importers, distributors, retailers, and hospitals in ensuring that the benefit of reduction of prices of knee implants reaches the last man. The Minister added that all complaints of overcharging would be strictly monitored and the overcharged amount would be recovered from erring parties with an interest of 18% over it. The Government might also consider cancelling of licenses and initiate criminal proceedings against stakeholders engaged in unethical profiteering.

Meanwhile, Medical Technology Association of India (MTaL) is reviewing the Order of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on knee implants, and will revert with suggestions, if any, to the NPPA for ensuring the practicality of its implementation after due analysis.

The Institute of Microbial Technology, a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has identified two new molecules against tuberculosis and has joined hands with a private drug company for their further development.

Initial studies have shown promise of more effective and safe oral-based treatment regime to tackle all types of tuberculosis including multi-drug and extensively drug resistant forms, Dr Anil Koul, director of the Chandigarh-based laboratory, told newsmen on Wednesday. 

For further development of the new molecule, the CSIR lab will work with Johnson & Johnson. The agreement signed on Wednesday also covers two additional molecules developed by J&J for which the CSIR lab will collaborate with the drug company.

For all the four new molecules, preliminary studies have indicated they could be put together to develop a new drug regime for the disease. An agreement has been signed to explore validity of initial findings. “While we will provide microbiology and medicinal chemistry expertise, the company will provide preclinical resources and drug development support,” he added.

Asked about aspects such as funding pattern for the project, Dr. Koul said all details like milestones, actual working relationships and costs are being worked. He added that other research institutions working in the area of TB were welcome to contribute to the programme. “We are interested in finding a lasting solution to the TB problem. All assistance is welcome.”

“India can move forward on the path of innovation and development and leverage its efforts through creating and strengthening desired partnership with industry in the domain of health research,” commented Dr Harsh Vardhan, minister for science and technology. (India Science Wire)